BRIGHTON — Larry Bird, arguably among the top two or three best Boston Celtics of all-time, winner of three league MVPs and three NBA championships, accomplished so much in his legendary career.
One thing not on his resume is this: a back-to-back championship.
Bill Belichick and Tom Brady combined to win six Super Bowl rings, arguably the best of the best at what each did, accomplished it only once just over 20 years ago.
Boston Celtics media day has come and gone with official training camp starting on Wednesday, and the question of the day to all of those interviewed centered on “The Repeat” … or really “The Attempted Repeat.”
The Celtics are doing something rarely done in pro sports after never mind a championship season, but any season.
They are “playing it back,” which was how team president Brad Stevens worded it.
As a compatriot of Bill Belichick — the two would show up at each other’s practices or games — who was obsessed with turning the page after any season, particularly one that involved a Super Bowl ring ceremony at the Kraft Compound in Brookline, Stevens is taking a different tack.
Other than signing free agent “shooter” Lonnie Walker IV, who’s minimum deal kicks in if he makes the 15-man roster, the starters and substitutes on the championship team will return in almost their entirety.
Anybody that could have been traded with a year remaining on their deal.
After Jayson Tatum’s mammoth deal (5 years, $315M), Sam Hauser (4 years, $45M) and Derrick White (4 years, $118M) were signed to healthy extensions.
The Celtics do have a few “motivational” stories, both with their stars Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Tatum not only didn’t win an MVP in the playoffs — Brown copped the conference and finals MVP — but his benching during the Olympics was both embarrassing and humbling.
And the fact the Brown wasn’t picked or added to the Olympic team still irks him, while he didn’t actually say it.
“[It’ll] help with what I’m about to do,” said Brown, who looked like he’s added even more muscle.
The Celtics heard a lot of “smack” during their championship run, like Joel Embiid noting they got “lucky” due to injuries in all three series before the NBA Finals. Or Jimmy Butler’s comments, “If I was playing, Boston would be at home, New York would damn sure would f—ing be at home.”
And when the NBA Finals came around, despite the Celtics’ box-to-near-wire dominance, the Mavericks were the overwhelming choice.
Is that enough bulletin board material?
Every Celtic employee interviewed at media day in Brighton on Tuesday was asked “The Repeat” question.
Stevens probably had the best answer.
He noted human nature, aka complacency after success, is always a topic of discussion.
“If we have the right mentality,” said Stevens.
There are other issues facing the Celtics, as in the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, Indiana Pacers and those pesky N.Y. Knicks in the East and the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, L.A. Lakers, Oklahoma Thunder and last June’s finalist, the Mavericks.
All of them are worthy adversaries with, in their own ways, something to prove.
The Celtics appear to have everything in place. They still have the best roster, one through five and really one through nine, and now they have “Duck Boat” experience to with them being dissed.
“It was an incredible year,” said Celtics injured forward Kristaps Porzingis. “The Duck Boat parade was the best part.”
The hardest part is before the Duck Boat parade.
Just so you know, the last Boston team to “let it ride again” another year, the 2019 Boston Red Sox, didn’t work out so well.
Manager Alex Cora later admitted it was a mistake.
But Stevens, who has made few if any mistakes in his new gig, is betting on this group, saying they’ve “earned the right to play it back.”
Time to see if they can handle it and enter a place few franchises have ever went — winning multiple championships.
History says even some of the greatest, including Larry Joe Bird, have failed at their attempts.
Stay tuned. It will be a ride to remember and really a road less traveled if they can pull it off.
You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.